| 1. |
- Bernal, Ximena E., et al.
(författare)
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Empowering Latina scientists
- 2019
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 363:6429, s. 825-826
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 2. |
- Schoville, Sean D., et al.
(författare)
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A model species for agricultural pest genomics : The genome of the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)
- 2018
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Ingår i: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-2322. ; 8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Colorado potato beetle is one of the most challenging agricultural pests to manage. It has shown a spectacular ability to adapt to a variety of solanaceaeous plants and variable climates during its global invasion, and, notably, to rapidly evolve insecticide resistance. To examine evidence of rapid evolutionary change, and to understand the genetic basis of herbivory and insecticide resistance, we tested for structural and functional genomic changes relative to other arthropod species using genome sequencing, transcriptomics, and community annotation. Two factors that might facilitate rapid evolutionary change include transposable elements, which comprise at least 17% of the genome and are rapidly evolving compared to other Coleoptera, and high levels of nucleotide diversity in rapidly growing pest populations. Adaptations to plant feeding are evident in gene expansions and differential expression of digestive enzymes in gut tissues, as well as expansions of gustatory receptors for bitter tasting. Surprisingly, the suite of genes involved in insecticide resistance is similar to other beetles. Finally, duplications in the RNAi pathway might explain why Leptinotarsa decemlineata has high sensitivity to dsRNA. The L. decemlineata genome provides opportunities to investigate a broad range of phenotypes and to develop sustainable methods to control this widely successful pest.
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| 3. |
- Ademuyiwa, Adesoji O., et al.
(författare)
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Determinants of morbidity and mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in children in low-income and middle-income countries
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMJ Global Health. - : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2059-7908. ; 1:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Child health is a key priority on the global health agenda, yet the provision of essential and emergency surgery in children is patchy in resource-poor regions. This study was aimed to determine the mortality risk for emergency abdominal paediatric surgery in low-income countries globally.Methods: Multicentre, international, prospective, cohort study. Self-selected surgical units performing emergency abdominal surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive children aged <16 years during a 2-week period between July and December 2014. The United Nation's Human Development Index (HDI) was used to stratify countries. The main outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality, analysed by multilevel logistic regression.Results: This study included 1409 patients from 253 centres in 43 countries; 282 children were under 2 years of age. Among them, 265 (18.8%) were from low-HDI, 450 (31.9%) from middle-HDI and 694 (49.3%) from high-HDI countries. The most common operations performed were appendectomy, small bowel resection, pyloromyotomy and correction of intussusception. After adjustment for patient and hospital risk factors, child mortality at 30 days was significantly higher in low-HDI (adjusted OR 7.14 (95% CI 2.52 to 20.23), p<0.001) and middle-HDI (4.42 (1.44 to 13.56), p=0.009) countries compared with high-HDI countries, translating to 40 excess deaths per 1000 procedures performed.Conclusions: Adjusted mortality in children following emergency abdominal surgery may be as high as 7 times greater in low-HDI and middle-HDI countries compared with high-HDI countries. Effective provision of emergency essential surgery should be a key priority for global child health agendas.
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| 4. |
- Agache, Ioana, et al.
(författare)
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Prioritizing research challenges and funding for allergy and asthma and the need for translational research—The European Strategic Forum on Allergic Diseases
- 2019
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Ingår i: Allergy: European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. - : Wiley. - 0105-4538. ; 74:11, s. 2064-2076
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) organized the first European Strategic Forum on Allergic Diseases and Asthma. The main aim was to bring together all relevant stakeholders and decision-makers in the field of allergy, asthma and clinical Immunology around an open debate on contemporary challenges and potential solutions for the next decade. The Strategic Forum was an upscaling of the EAACI White Paper aiming to integrate the Academy's output with the perspective offered by EAACI's partners. This collaboration is fundamental for adapting and integrating allergy and asthma care into the context of real-world problems. The Strategic Forum on Allergic Diseases brought together all partners who have the drive and the influence to make positive change: national and international societies, patients’ organizations, regulatory bodies and industry representatives. An open debate with a special focus on drug development and biomedical engineering, big data and information technology and allergic diseases and asthma in the context of environmental health concluded that connecting science with the transformation of care and a joint agreement between all partners on priorities and needs are essential to ensure a better management of allergic diseases and asthma in the advent of precision medicine together with global access to innovative and affordable diagnostics and therapeutics.
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| 5. |
- Arias-Rodriguez, Leonardo F., et al.
(författare)
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Integration of remote sensing and Mexican water quality monitoring system using an extreme learning machine
- 2021
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Ingår i: Sensors. - : MDPI AG. - 1424-8220. ; 21:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Remote Sensing, as a driver for water management decisions, needs further integration with monitoring water quality programs, especially in developing countries. Moreover, usage of remote sensing approaches has not been broadly applied in monitoring routines. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the efficacy of available sensors to complement the often limited field measurements from such programs and build models that support monitoring tasks. Here, we integrate field measurements (2013–2019) from the Mexican national water quality monitoring system (RNMCA) with data from Landsat-8 OLI, Sentinel-3 OLCI, and Sentinel-2 MSI to train an extreme learning machine (ELM), a support vector regression (SVR) and a linear regression (LR) for estimating Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), Turbidity, Total Suspended Matter (TSM) and Secchi Disk Depth (SDD). Additionally, OLCI Level-2 Products for Chl-a and TSM are compared against the RNMCA data. We observed that OLCI Level-2 Products are poorly correlated with the RNMCA data and it is not feasible to rely only on them to support monitoring operations. However, OLCI atmospherically corrected data is useful to develop accurate models using an ELM, particularly for Turbidity (R2 =0.7). We conclude that remote sensing is useful to support monitoring systems tasks, and its progressive integration will improve the quality of water quality monitoring programs.
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| 6. |
- Barack, Leor, et al.
(författare)
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Black holes, gravitational waves and fundamental physics : a roadmap
- 2019
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Ingår i: Classical and quantum gravity. - : IOP Publishing. - 0264-9381 .- 1361-6382. ; 36:14
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The grand challenges of contemporary fundamental physics dark matter, dark energy, vacuum energy, inflation and early universe cosmology, singularities and the hierarchy problem all involve gravity as a key component. And of all gravitational phenomena, black holes stand out in their elegant simplicity, while harbouring some of the most remarkable predictions of General Relativity: event horizons, singularities and ergoregions. The hitherto invisible landscape of the gravitational Universe is being unveiled before our eyes: the historical direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO-Virgo collaboration marks the dawn of a new era of scientific exploration. Gravitational-wave astronomy will allow us to test models of black hole formation, growth and evolution, as well as models of gravitational-wave generation and propagation. It will provide evidence for event horizons and ergoregions, test the theory of General Relativity itself, and may reveal the existence of new fundamental fields. The synthesis of these results has the potential to radically reshape our understanding of the cosmos and of the laws of Nature. The purpose of this work is to present a concise, yet comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the relevant fields of research, summarize important open problems, and lay out a roadmap for future progress. This write-up is an initiative taken within the framework of the European Action on 'Black holes, Gravitational waves and Fundamental Physics'.
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| 7. |
- Engel, Philipp, et al.
(författare)
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The Bee Microbiome: Impact on Bee Health and Model for Evolution and Ecology of Host-Microbe Interactions
- 2016
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Ingår i: mBio. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 2161-2129 .- 2150-7511. ; 7:2
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- As pollinators, bees are cornerstones for terrestrial ecosystem stability and key components in agricultural productivity. All animals, including bees, are associated with a diverse community of microbes, commonly referred to as the micro biome. The bee micro biome is likely to be a crucial factor affecting host health. However, with the exception of a few pathogens, the impacts of most members of the bee microbiome on host health are poorly understood. Further, the evolutionary and ecological forces that shape and change the microbiome are unclear. Here, we discuss recent progress in our understanding of the bee microbiome, and we present challenges associated with its investigation. We conclude that global coordination of research efforts is needed to fully understand the complex and highly dynamic nature of the interplay between the bee micro biome, its host, and the environment. High-throughput sequencing technologies are ideal for exploring complex biological systems, including host-microbe interactions. To maximize their value and to improve assessment of the factors affecting bee health, sequence data should be archived, curated, and analyzed in ways that promote the synthesis of different studies. To this end, the BeeBiome consortium aims to develop an online database which would provide reference sequences, archive metadata, and host analytical resources. The goal would be to support applied and fundamental research on bees and their associated microbes and to provide a collaborative framework for sharing primary data from different research programs, thus furthering our understanding of the bee microbiome and its impact on pollinator health.
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| 8. |
- Gestal, Mónica Cartelle, et al.
(författare)
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Computational health engineering applied to model infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance spread
- 2019
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Ingår i: Applied Sciences (Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2076-3417. ; 9:12
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Infectious diseases are the primary cause of mortality worldwide. The dangers of infectious disease are compounded with antimicrobial resistance, which remains the greatest concern for human health. Although novel approaches are under investigation, the World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, septicaemia caused by antimicrobial resistant bacteria could result in 10 million deaths per year. One of the main challenges in medical microbiology is to develop novel experimental approaches, which enable a better understanding of bacterial infections and antimicrobial resistance. After the introduction of whole genome sequencing, there was a great improvement in bacterial detection and identification, which also enabled the characterization of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes. Today, the use of in silico experiments jointly with computational and machine learning offer an in depth understanding of systems biology, allowing us to use this knowledge for the prevention, prediction, and control of infectious disease. Herein, the aim of this review is to discuss the latest advances in human health engineering and their applicability in the control of infectious diseases. An in-depth knowledge of host-pathogen-protein interactions, combined with a better understanding of a host's immune response and bacterial fitness, are key determinants for halting infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance dissemination.
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| 9. |
- Jaime Torres, Mónica Marcela
(författare)
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Essays on behavioral economics and policy design
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Chapter 1: Social norms and information diffusion in water-saving programs: Evidence from a randomized field experiment in Colombia This paper investigates spillover effects of a social information campaign aimed at encouraging residential water savings in Colombia. The campaign was organized as a randomized field experiment, consisting of monthly delivery of consumption reports, including normative messages, for one year. We first evaluate both direct and spillover effects of the campaign. Then we investigate the role of social networks on information dissemination. Results indicate that social information and appeals to norm-based behavior shaped the behavior of households under study. Households directly targeted by the campaign reduced water use by 6.8% during the first year following the intervention. Most importantly, we find significant but short-term evidence of spillover effects: households that were not targeted by the campaign reduced water use by 5.8% in the first six months following the intervention. Nevertheless, neither direct nor spillover effects can be attributed to social networks for any of ourchosen proxies of social and geographic proximity. Chapter 2: Does the water spill over? Spillover effects from a social information campaign We investigate whether a social information campaign aimed at reducing water use causes a spillover effect on the use of electricity. On average, water use decreased by 6% for a treatment group for whom we conducted a social information campaign on their use of water, compared with that of a control group. We identify a further spillover effect on electricity usage among households that had efficient use of water before the campaign. The effect is sizeable; this group has almost 9% lower use of electricity after the campaign compared with the control group. We argue that this is consistent with a model of cognitive dissonance where, before the campaign, the individual held the belief that the moral cost/benefits of consumption are not important despite being an efficient consumer. Due to the campaign, this belief is changed and there is a spillover effect on electricity use. Chapter 3: Interactions between CAP agricultural and agri-environmental subsidies and their effects on the uptake of organic farming In this article, we analyze the effects of the interactions of the two pillars of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy – market support and rural development – on farmers’ uptake of organic farming practices. Special attention is given to the 2003 reform, which substantially altered the relative importance of the two types of support by decoupling direct agricultural payments from the production of a specific crop. In our empirical analysis, we study the case of Sweden, making use of the variation in the timing of farmers’ decisions regarding participation in support programs. We estimate a dynamic non-linear unobserved effects probit model to take account of unobserved individual heterogeneity and state dependence. Our results indicate the existence of a negative effect of the market support system in place when organic farming techniques were adopted before the 2003 reform; however, this effect is reversed by the introduction of decoupling. Furthermore, the effects of support differ between certified and non-certified organic production: both pillars have significant effects on non-certified organic farming, whereas certified organic farming is exclusively driven by agro-environmental subsidies.
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| 10. |
- Jaime Torres, Mónica Marcela, et al.
(författare)
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Interactions between CAP Agricultural and Agri-Environmental Subsidies and Their Effects on the Uptake of Organic Farming
- 2016
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Ingår i: American Journal of Agricultural Economics. - : Wiley. - 0002-9092 .- 1467-8276. ; 98:4, s. 1114-1145
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We analyze the effects of the interactions that the two pillars of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy—market support and rural development—have on farmers’ uptake of organic farming practices. Special attention is given to the 2003 reform, which substantially altered the relative importance of the two types of support by decoupling direct agricultural payments from the production of a specific crop. In our empirical analysis we study the case of Sweden, making use of the variation in the timing of farmers’ decisions regarding participation in support programs. We estimate a dynamic non-linear unobserved effects probit model to account for unobserved individual heterogeneity and state dependence. Our results indicate the existence of a negative effect of the market support system in place when organic farming techniques were adopted before the 2003 reform. However, this effect is reversed by the introduction of decoupling. Furthermore, the effects of support differ between certified and non-certified organic production: both pillars have significant effects on non-certified organic farming, whereas certified organic farming is exclusively driven by agro-environmental subsidies.
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